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“What?” Yasha snaps.
“She’s playing you!” I shake my head. “Sofia is using you to get to Adrik. She doesn’t give a shit about making you the next don. As soon as Adrik is out of the picture, I won’t be surprised if the Volandris take over the compound and put you down like a dog.”
Yasha’s eyebrows shoot up as if he hadn’t really considered this possibility. He raises his weapon again, turning to Sofia.
“Why would I kill you, Yasha?” she asks in a breathy laugh. “We’re going to work together. Unite our families.”
“Because,” I butt in, “if you kill him, the Tasarov line is dead. Then your family can strip the Bratva of everything Yasha’s family has built.”
Sofia looks like she is seconds away from saying to hell with it and flinging a match into the gasoline-soaked room. “I am a woman of my word.”
“Every single thing you’ve ever done contradicts that.”
Her jaw clenches. Yasha tightens his hold around his weapon. I can see the fractures growing between them. But they don’t do me any good unless I can escape.
I’ve been shimmying my wrists together the entire time we’ve been talking. I definitely have a friction burn on the inside of my wrists, but I can feel the duct tape starting to loosen, the adhesive losing some of its strength. Maybe if I loosen it enough, I can muscle my way out.
“She’s getting between us—manipulating us,” Sofia says, flinging her arm in my direction. “Just like you said. This bitch is good at getting in people’s heads.”
“Maybe. But she’s making some good points,” Yasha says. “How do I know you aren’t going to shove my body through a shredder and feed me to the pigs? Your family still owns that hog farm out west, don’t they?”
Yasha’s fear is much too specific to be fictional. A shiver runs down my spine.
Maybe a fire is a preferable way to go, after all.
Sofia tips her head to the side. “Yasha, come on. Don’t do this. We’re so close.”
“No. You’ve gone completely off the rails. I mean, look at this mess!”
“Kill her with me and then we can figure this out!” Sofia sounds frantic now. She must be able to see the same resolve I can see building in Yasha’s face. “Don’t do this, Yasha. I helped you. You owe me.”
He nods. “I do. After everything you’ve been through, I owe you one thing: a dignified, simple death. Better than the one I gave your brother.”
Sofia’s eyes flare with understanding just as Yasha pulls the trigger.
She dives sideways. I have no idea if Yasha hit her or not because, before I can even process what is going on, the room erupts in flames from the spark of the bullet.
“Fuck!” Yasha yells.
He glances at me for a second. But before I can appeal to his humanity, he sprints out through the front door.
A second later, I see Sofia through a wall of flames.
Then she runs towards the door after him, leaving me alone in the cabin as the flames climb higher.
